Top tips for growing strawberries in New Zealand

Best time to plant strawberries in New Zealand

Make sure to consider best planting and harvesting times for your strawberry plant to get the best results from your crop.

• When to plant: June to November
• When to harvest: November to March

9 steps to growing strawberries in New Zealand

Luckily you don't have to be a green thumb to grow your own delicious strawberries.
With the right plants and our advice, you could be eating your own fresh strawberries for months on end.

Step 1

Start by preparing your soil. Enrich with organic matter and plant in a weed free garden bed using a good quality planting mix like Scotts Osmocote Garden Soil Planting Mix.

Step 2

Strawberries like free draining soil so create raised beds or mound the soil and plant into the top of the mound to ensure good drainage. Dig a hole twice the size of the root ball of the plant.

Step 3

Space plants 30cm apart to allow room for them to develop fully.

Step 4

Water well, avoiding the leaves. Keep plants well watered, ensuring the soil doesn't dry out, especially over summer.

Step 5

Place Scotts Strawberry Straw under leaves to protect plants, keep berries clean and help suppress weeds.

Step 6

Feed with a granular plant food like Scotts Osmocote Fruit, Citrus, Trees & Shrubs.

Step 7

Cover the planting area with fine netting to keep birds away from your fruit.

Step 8

Pick strawberries when ripe and harvest regularly. They won't ripen any more once harvested. After fruiting lightly trim back foliage.

Step 9

Feed again in autumn with a granular plant food like Scotts Osmocote Fruit, Citrus, Trees & Shrubs to get them through winter.

Planting strawberries in containers

If space is limited grow strawberries in a hanging basket or strawberry planter. Keep well watered throughout the growing season to ensure sweet juicy strawberries throughout the season.

Step1

Select your container, such as a hanging basket, pot or strawberry planter, and use a quality potting mix like Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix. The smallest pot size for one strawberry plant would be 15cm diameter.

Step 2

Partly fill your container with Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix.

Step 3

Gently loosen the root ball of your plant and position in the container.

Step 4

Fill your container with Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix up to 3cm from the top and gently tap the container on the ground to settle the mix.

Step 5

Press the soil gently around the base of the plant and water well.

Top tips

Replace plants every three years to maintain maximum cropping.

As a guide, for a family of four you will need around 20 plants for a generous harvest. If space is limited, 8 plants will produce a reasonable crop. Don't underestimate the value of just one or two plants in a pot - your tastebuds will be the first to thank you!

Grow strawberries in hanging baskets with quality potting mix. This way the slugs won't get them and they are easier to pick. 

Strawberry plants for free

Strawberries are naturally spreading plants, sending out shoots (called runners) to create additional new plants. Runners will produce roots where they touch the soil. These runners can be cut from the main plant, potted up in Scotts Osmocote Premium Potting Mix and given to friends, or left in-situ, where they will eventually create a carpet of foliage and berries.

Because of their natural inclination to self-propagate, it's best to plant strawberries in a permanent position where you can maximise their plant numbers without interfering with the rest of the garden. Every two or three years, cull older, less productive plants to leave room for new runners to establish and take over the main cropping.